Sun Devils Make Themselves at Home

It was their first road game of the season, but the Arizona State Sun Devils felt so comfortable in the Rose Bowl, they may ask to have their mail forwarded and move their favorite lounge chairs into the locker room in preparation for a return visit Jan. 1.

The 83-degree weather was milder than it would have been in Tempe and the grass in the end zones did say “UCLA” and “BRUINS,” but the Sun Devils made Pasadena their home away from home Saturday in rallying for a 42-34 victory before 66,107.

“Whatever house we go in, we have to think it’s our home,” said sophomore free safety Mitchell Freedman, who tied for the team lead with nine tackles, assisted on three others and got his fingers on two UCLA passes.

“When we go on the road, we call it ASU East, ASU South or whatever. We bring our fans with us, and all the fans who came gave us such great support, so we made it our house.”

But the Rose Bowl isn’t just any house. It’s the location the Sun Devils (6-0, 3-0 in the Pacific 10) have set their sights on for spending New Year’s Day.

“This is definitely a place we’d like to visit a couple of times during the year,” said quarterback Jake Plummer, who enhanced his Heisman Trophy candidacy by completing 19 of 36 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for 34 yards and a touchdown and also catching a 16-yard touchdown pass.

“It’s nice to come here and get a little taste of what it’s like,” he added. “I’m not saying we’re definitely going to be back, but this is a big step toward that.”

Senior offensive tackle Juan Roque of Ontario truly felt at home Saturday, with 45 friends and relatives among the large contingent of Arizona State fans in the stands. He wasn’t about to let a sprained ankle keep him out of the game, not with so many eyes upon him and so much at stake.

“[Playing in the Rose Bowl] is our ultimate goal, and to achieve that, we had to win here today,” Roque said. “I want to be part of something special. All of us, especially the seniors, have been saying that, and I think I am part of something special.”

Their dreams are moving closer to reality, with any potential knocks against them disappearing one by one.

They had won praise for beating Washington in their opener and leaped in the rankings after a stunning 19-0 rout of two-time defending national champion Nebraska. They had swamped opponents, 220-83, in winning their first five games and climbing to No. 4 in the rankings, but they hadn’t taken their act on the road until Saturday and they still had to prove they could keep their act together.

Any doubts about their resilience and poise were silenced with their impressive second-half rally and their persistence in shredding a UCLA defense that had enabled the Bruins to hold a 28-14 lead at halftime.

“They pulled out all the stops,” senior defensive end Brent Burnstein said. “Being behind on the road is definitely not good, but we stuck with our game plan. We didn’t really make that many adjustments in the second half. We wanted to outhit them, and I think we picked it up in the second half.”

They rose to the challenge, holding UCLA to 19 yards rushing in the second half after the Bruins netted 93 yards in the first half. Scoring on their first possession of the second half--an eight-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 17-yard pass by Plummer to Keith Poole in the left corner of the end zone--and cutting UCLA’s lead to 28-21 was crucial to lifting their morale.

“We started to get confidence and we knew we could beat them,” tailback Terry Battle said. “This gives us great confidence, if it ever comes down to a game like this again. We knew we could pull it out, and we did.

“We said before the game we’re going to make this our first [Rose Bowl] appearance, and on January 1 we’re going to make our second appearance.”